Josh Gregory 'First Light' interview from Sidewalk 206

Josh Gregory 'First Light' interview from Sidewalk 206

I haven’t known Josh for very long but I always used to see him around; he was and still is a massive skate rat, usually out skating long before I arrive at the Buszy and staying way past his bedtime. I’ve seen him develop from an irritating grom to a humble teenager with a bit of fluff on his top lip. His skating has developed as well; he now has this effortless style and exceptional bag of tricks, which makes him a pleasure to watch. Josh is young and still has lots to learn so lets just hope that when he finally hits puberty he doesn’t get sidetracked by the gym or his penis because we all deserve to see more of this little shit.
- Swampy

Josh is my favorite skateboarder; the combination of a rad style, consistency, unique tricks and speed make him one to watch out for. You’ll be seeing more of his teen ‘tache…
- Zeta Rush

Little Josh started skating at a young age but had a lengthy hiatus up until a couple of years back. Since he’s been back he’s improved so quickly and got incredibly consistent with his crazy bag of tricks. I’m pretty stoked he’s got this First Light as he’s been shredding for quite some time now and deserves to have his maneuvers seen by the eyes of the general populous! Big up the new blood!
- James Bush

Give us your vital statistics please…
- I’m Josh Gregory, I’m 17 from a small village in Milton Keynes called Simpson, and I’ve been skating for four years.

Who’s your regular crew you go out skating with around MK then?
- Whoever’s out, but I like to go spotting at the weekends with some gully mandem such as James Bush, Charlie Munro, Swampy and that lot as we always manage to have a good time and get shit done!

Some of your fellow MK locals tell me that you originally started skating at a young age but gave up for a good few years, up until recently. When did you start skating the first time around, and what made you stop?
- Yeah, it was quite few years back, the same time as Battle of the Buszy comp. I went to the jam with my mate Rowan got hyped on it and so I bought myself a cheap No Fear deck from the carboot and would try to ollie this gap in the path that had a slab missing round the back of his house but could never do it. After that experience and an hour of trying to boardslide an Argos rail it seemed ridiculous, so I gave up on it.

So, when did you start skating again, and what was it that drew you back in?
- About three years later my mate was talking about some setup he wanted for Christmas and I started to watch videos and get into the whole skateboarding scene, and I asked my mum for a board for Christmas. It was a Motive board with Ven- ture trucks and the cheapest wheels they had. But yeah, I got hooked again instantly and haven’t stopped since.

From your perspective, was there much change in the MK scene over the years you weren’t skating?
- I didn’t really know many people when I first started but yeah, I definitely noticed a change in the scene, such as Ark selling boards out the back of a family car, and the baggy jeans and chunky DC’s, but mostly it’s the amount of skaters. People from all over the UK used to come and skate the Buszy, but nowadays there’s not that many unless there’s a jam on or something. Most of the people are still about, such as The EGC, Brownie, Selley and that, and yeah there’s a few new faces around like the Cambridge lot and some of the Get Lesta crew – they’re all really sound geezers and always down for something rad.

I’ve been told to ask you about your recent bike crash – care to share what happened with us?
- (Laughing) Yeah, why not: it was on the day I did this back lip (laughs). Anyway, I was coming home from work to go skate with Swampy, Zeta, Selley, Ark, Charlie and that, and was just going down the road like I normally do and there’s this stretch of road that goes over a bridge round to a blind corner. I was going round at about thirty or forty when all of a sudden I see an AA van in the middle of my side of the road. I tried to brake as quickly as I could but it wasn’t good enough, so I tried and turned to the side so I didn’t go straight in to the back of him but I clipped the corner of the van, bounced off it with my head (which didn’t hurt that bad, surprisingly) and fell into the road. A car coming the other way ran over my bag and braked so I couldn’t get up – I was stuck on the floor – so he moved forward. Luckily I somehow managed only scratched my hands from a ring I was wearing from the market, (laughs).

How much longer do you intend on growing your much talked about ‘moustache’ for? Does it make you feel like more of an adult, or have you not figure out how to shave properly yet?
- Honestly, I don’t know. I was going to try and get a thing going but I don’t think it’s likely to happen. I just can’t be arsed to shave so I’m stuck on what to do with it at the moment, (laughs).

Here are a few quick MK themed questions to end with… Favourite Rob Selley section?
- His part with Sean and James at The DC Embassy – the noseslide nollie heel was banging.

Best trick you’ve seen go down at The Buszy?
- Sean Smith – switch flip back tail up the T block.

Favourite conspiracy theory?
- Aliens are just a bunch of mad rednecks.

Favourite James Bush quote?“I walk down this road drunk all the time” – talking about some sketchy, pitch-black, country road in the middle of nowhere.

Anyone you’d like to thank or give a shout out to?
- Selley for the sequence, Swampy for getting this together, James, Mark, Charlie, Zeta, Kizza, Callun, Ark, the GGG boys, my mum and loads of other people – you know who you are!

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